Issa to Hillary: Why did State refuse requests to bolster Benghazi security?

posted at 12:01 pm on October 2, 2012 by Ed Morrissey

The Right Scoop calls this a “bombshell,” which may underestimate the impact of the question posed by House Oversight Chair Darrell Issa to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Despite the CNN discovery of the late Ambassador Chris Stevens’ journal in which Stevens outlined his fears of terrorist attacks, the Obama administration has told the media that Stevens didn’t push those security issues with the State Department. According to the letter Issa sent today to Clinton, that may be yet another untruth pushed by the White House:

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee leaders today sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking why requests for more protection were denied to the U.S. mission in Libya by Washington officials prior to the September 11, 2012 terrorist attack that killed U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. The denials came after repeated attacks and security threats to U.S. personnel.

“Based on information provided to the Committee by individuals with direct knowledge of events in Libya, the attack that claimed the ambassador’s life was the latest in a long line of attacks on Western diplomats and officials in Libya in the months leading up to September 11, 2012. It was clearly never, as Administration officials once insisted, the result of a popular protest,” the committee’s chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and subcommittee chairman, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, write. “In addition, multiple U.S. federal government officials have confirmed to the Committee that, prior to the September 11 attack, the U.S. mission in Libya made repeated requests for increased security in Benghazi. The mission in Libya, however, was denied these resources by officials in Washington.”

The letter outlines 13 security threats over the six months prior to the attack.

“Put together, these events indicated a clear pattern of security threats that could only be reasonably interpreted to justify increased security for U.S. personnel and facilities in Benghazi,” the chairmen write.

But if Stevens was deeply worried about deteriorating security, as CNN has reported he wrote in an entry in his journal, he kept quiet, said the Libyan friend who was with him the day before the attack.

“We didn’t talk about attacks,” the friend said. “He would have never come on the anniversary of September 11th if he had had any concerns.”

According to Issa’s sources, though, the US embassy in Libya had become very worried about security — and for good reason. Far from just one or two attacks in the months prior to the sacking of the consulate in Benghazi that have been reported by the media, Issa outlines a string of incidents starting in April that demonstrated a deterioration in the security situation in Libya, and particularly in Benghazi. They include RPG attacks on a Red Cross office one kilometer from the American consulate, harassment of American diplomatic personnel by militia, the abduction and beating of the deputy commander of the local Libyan security force for the US Embassy in Tripoli, the attempted carjacking of a vehicle with American diplomatic plates, and more.

Furthermore, terrorists had posted pictures of Ambassador Stevens going for a routine morning jog and threatening to abduct or kill him. The Libyan security guards in the Benghazi consulate had been receiving warnings for weeks before the attack to quit, as an attack was planned for the facility. According to Issa, the embassy asked for heightened security for their diplomatic missions — and got nothing but static in response.

Issa wants a hearing on this matter on October 10th. Don’t be surprised if Hillary stonewalls for at least another four weeks.

The Obama administration has withdrawn all official government personnel from Benghazi, the Libyan city where the country’s revolution was born and where the U.S. ambassador was killed last month, U.S. officials and local residents said Monday.

The State Department said that it has pulled its personnel from Benghazi and that any diplomatic outreach to Libya’s second-largest city is being done remotely. The U.S. post where Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans died in an attack by militants has been closed.

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Comments

It’s Shillary’s department, even if Hussein had reasons to decline security it was still Shillary’s responsibility to protect her employees. She is just as much responsible for the deaths of 4 people as is Hussein, even more so.

Better question would be: What did Stevens know and when did he know it? Similar to Foster who, for some still unexplained reason, just had to get in a car, drive off to some remote park way out of vicinity of his house, and commit suicide in a middle of the night. Just because of some articles printed by WSJ. Riiiight… A typical suicide for a high powered attorney in DC and a long time confident of Clenis/Shillary who had the world at his feet.

And Shillary is again in the picture. I stopped believing in “co-incidences” a long time ago.

I don’t care about Steven’s diary. I want to see phone records of not only of Benghazi consulate between the time terrorists showed up and the attack started 30 minutes later, but cell phones of the 2 murdered SEALs. That will show in much clearer way who was called and when. No need to ask questions of Hussein and Co.

That’s pretty far off the conspiracy plank, but I agree there are some dots you could connect.

peski on October 2, 2012 at 7:09 PM

Yeah, I am sure those WSJ journalists upset the guy into suicide.

How else to explain not only repeated threats against consulate, FOR MONTHS, and then repeated refusals to provide more security. There is definitely more here than we are shown, you don’t just simply ignore such requests.

The only “good” thing here, if you can call it that, is that this should be the final nail in Shillary’s coffin of expected 2016 bid. And the only way she can come out of this with any hope of 2016 is to bury Hussein’s admin in this fiasco. And so far, nada from her.

And Shillary is again in the picture. I stopped believing in “co-incidences” a long time ago.

riddick on October 2, 2012 at 7:03 PM

That’s pretty far off the conspiracy plank, but I agree there are some dots you could connect.

As with O and the Drudge/Hannity Jeremiah Wright re-connect smoking gun, the MSM will bury any real connection very deep.

Better to focus on illuminating the utter incompetence of the entire administration, this just being the latest (and one of the worst) fruits of their philosophy, policy, and ineptitude.

peski on October 2, 2012 at 7:09 PM

I understand wanting to stay clear of conspiracy theories. Unfortunately, that’s what the Clintons have relied on for a very long time. These are not nice people, or trustworthy. From just “happening” to have FBI files on enemies lying around in the White House, to Travelgate, to BJ’s lying to the American people about his sleazy behavior with an intern, to a long pattern of womanizing, to Hillary’s arranging the pardon of Puerto Rican terrorists just before she gets elected to the New York Senate, there is too long a pattern of malfeasance from both of them.

We don’t know what actually happened in this case, but there is literally — not just “Joe Biden literally” — no reason to assume the best where Hillary is concerned.

This administration must think that everyone outside the WH is naive and stupid. Trying to imply that it wasn’t a terriorist attack and that it was precipitated by a video that had been on U-tube for several months. Then they are going to send the FBI to investigate and will get justice – what a joke. The only justice our president is interested in is social justice. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the anniversary of 9-11 might bring about an attack of some sort, somewhere, but apparently we don’t have anything close to that in the WH or the state department. Preventive measures are not their forte. The ambassadors, the military and the people of this country deserve better. If we don’t have a change in leadership next year, God help us.

Romney’s campaign should air old clips of Shrillary going on about how much Barry sucks, and Barry attacking her/it when they were running against each other…and then end with the Libyan disaster emphasizing how their suckitude is multiplied tenfold when they’re on the same side.

The big thing to remember her is that this is not just another politician lying to we citizens, but indeed, our president.Romney must point that out in the debates. And while he’s at it, he might demand those media moderators and their cohorts in messiahvile begin doing their constitutional job by demanding answers and telling the masses the difference between a lying candidate and a lying president….

I was deeply embarrassed for Juan Williams last night. His explanation? These decisions are made by low-level operatives at the State Department so Hillary and Barrack are innocent bystanders.

Just like Barrack was an innocent onlooker at the GSA million dollar party and Fast and Furious and Solyndra.

Oh, and some PAC needs to release an ad in the Northern Virginia suburbs of that part of the new Obama race speech. They need to know that their school and road money is going to be given to the likes of Marion Berry for redistribution in the 8th Ward.

Hillary was in her favorite gin joint, which is whatever gin joint she’s in at the moment, and Obama was schmoozing with his dumbo uber-rich supporters. Who has time for this running the government stuff? Anyway it practically runs itself from what we’re seeing.